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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

Would Cole and Paul ever visit me in jail? Would the nightmares stop now that it was going to all come out? The scream I’d been reliving for thirteen years?

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, I almost missed Theresa’s response. “Maggie, this isn’t really the time or place—”

“Oh god, of course. Doug, stop filming.” Maggie put her hand over his lens, and he sighed, lowering the camera. “There,” she said. “Go ahead. You can talk freely now.”

“What’s going on, Maggie? Are you sure you...” Georgeann Wilkins appeared to be a combination of terrified and embarrassed, though it was hard to tell with the bright red makeup on her cheeks.

But Maggie was rabid. So close to the takedown. I could smell it on her. “Tell them what you heard,” she demanded of Theresa. “What you wrote to me. You were right. That’s what you said.”

Theresa met my eyes. What was that look?

Then she laughed. Turned to Maggie, brow furrowed. “Oh that message?” She shook her head and kicked out one leg. “I meant my shoes. You were right that I should’ve worn more comfortable shoes.”

It was the most beautiful sentence I’d ever heard. I felt the air go out of me. I was light. A fucking balloon.

And Maggie was lead. Sinking. “That is not it! You tell them. Or I’ll get my source to do it. I have proof.”

“I don’t know what you mean, Maggie,” Theresa said. So calm. I wasn’t sure I could trust it. But a desperate girl could hope.

I put my hands on my hips and drew up, ready to bring this one home. “What the hell is wrong with you?” I thundered at Maggie. “I don’t know what you’re implying, or what kind of circus show you’re putting on, making our friends march out here like this, but I’ve had about enough.”

Adam held his hands out, stepping forward to keep the peace. “Maybe we should all just calm down for a minute and go back to the party?”

“That seems reasonable,” Horace said next to him. Our neighborhood lawyer who got us all out of speeding tickets, he looked dignified and imposing in the tuxedo that was part of his James Bond Halloween costume. “We don’t want to say something we’ll regret later.” I was mildly irritated that the men were the ones bringing order to the night—they had contributed nothing up until now, after all—but I didn’t want to be here anymore either.

“They’re all in on it,” Maggie said, her voice rising in hysterics. “All of them.”